56 



close by, so that very little tl■o^^ble is here experienced from rough 

 weather. A channel between Eefiigio and the mainland is sufficiently 

 deep for vessels of moderate size, which may anchor within a short 

 distance of the wharf. A fairly regular mail and passenger service 

 to Iloilo, 180 kilometers distant by sea, is available once or twice a 

 week, the trip requiring about fourteen hours, while sugar and heavy 

 freight is transported, as in other districts, by lorchas, which are 

 usually towed up against the wind for about half the distance, or until 

 well around the northern end of the island, and then cast loose to 

 sail down with the wind into Iloilo. The customary freight rate here 

 is 25 centavos per picul (3.95 pesos per metric ton). 



The sugar plantations of San Carlos lie in a direct line along the 

 coast, extending from the hacienda Santo Tomas in the north to Valle 

 Hermoso in the south, a distance by land of 23 kilometers, by sea 

 a trifle less, and are connected by wagon roads passable in dry weather 

 down as far as the haciendas Santa Cruz and Santo Niiio (Mabuni), 5, 

 kilometers south of the town. In passing the next 3 kilometers between 

 Santo Niiio and the hacienda Fortuna, the land becomes much more 

 broken and accidental in character, and from this point on to Valle 

 Hermoso there exists only a rocky trail along the coast, from one and 

 one-half to two hours being required to traverse the 5 kilometers between 

 th^se two places on horseback. 



. The sugar lands of this side, unlike those of western Negros, do not 

 extend inland to any distance, but axe shut off by mountains which are 

 never more than 3 or 4 kilometers from the sea, and thus afford room 

 for only one fairly large estate between the foothills and the coast. 

 All the haciendas of this district, with the exception of Fortuna and 

 Valle Hermoso, the two farthest south, occupy the fairly level strip 

 of land which has the town of San Carlos as its approximate center. 

 These two haciendas, of much larger extent than the others, are made 

 up of a number of separate fields, wherever level ground can be utilized 

 in the valleys between the hills. 



No less than eight small streams pass through the district, but none 

 of- them are large enough for navigation of any kind, so that the sugar 

 lorchas must anchor close to the coast and have their freight brought 

 out to them in small boats, or, in the town of San Carlos and in tlie 

 hacienda Fortuna, be loaded directly from small, private wharves. 



